Reflections, commentaries, critiques and ideas from 40 years experience in the fields of Community Development, Community Education and Social Justice. Useful tools and techniques that I have learnt also added occassionally.

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The name of this blog, Rainbow Juice, is intentional.The rainbow signifies unity from diversity. It is holistic. The arch suggests the idea of looking at the over-arching concepts: the big picture. To create a rainbow requires air, fire (the sun) and water (raindrops) and us to see it from the earth.Juice suggests an extract; hence rainbow juice is extracting the elements from the rainbow, translating them and making them accessible to us. Juice also refreshes us and here it symbolises our nutritional quest for understanding, compassion and enlightenment.

Tuesday, 22 August 2017

Don't Blame It On The Children

Malala Yousafzai (left) and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.

“Don’t blame it on the children,” Sammy Davis Jr sang in 1967. His
refrain could have been sung today, or it could have been sung two centuries ago, or even two millennia ago. The older generation have oft complained about
“the youth of today.” Plato and Seneca, living in the 5th century BC both
complained that the young of their time had “bad manners.”

In the 11th century Peter the Hermit regaled against the young:

“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no
respect for their parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They
talk as if they alone know everything and what passes for wisdom in us
foolishness in them. As for the girls, they are foolish and immodest and
unwomanly in speech, behaviour, and dress.”

Doesn’t that sound familiar – yet it was said one thousand years ago.

The sad aspect of this unfair complaint is that young people are dismissed
and not listened to. Yet, young people, all over the world, are inspiring us
with their dreams and their desire for a more just, fairer world.

Two Well Known Young People
Most of us by now will have heard of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who
was shot by the Taliban at just 15 years of age, because she spoke out about the
injustice of girls not receiving an education. Miraculously, Malala survived
and went on to become a global spokesperson for the rights of girls and women
everywhere to receive an education. In 2014 she was nominated, for the second
time, for the Nobel Peace Prize, this time winning it – becoming the youngest
person to ever receive that award.

In April this year (2017) Malala was appointed as a U.N. Messenger of
Peace to promote girls education. The appointment is the highest honour given by
the United Nations for an initial period of two years. Recently Malala
announced that she has been accepted by Oxford University to study philosophy,
politics and economics.

Perhaps also, the name Xiuhtezcatl Martinez may be known. Xiuhtezcatl is an
indigenous environmental activist who has been speaking about environmental
matters since he was six years old. Now aged 17, Xiuhtezcatl has spoken at the
Rio UN Summit as well as the UN General Assembly, He is the youth director
of Earth Guardians, a world-wide movement of young people dedicated to
growing a resilient leadership co-creating a future they know is possible.

Many Many More
There an many many more young people the world over who defy the myth that
young people think of nothing but themselves. Here are just a few of them:

At just 11 years old, in 2004, Kendall Ciesemier, founded Kids Caring 4
Kids, an organisation of young people in the US who raise money for clean
water, healthcare, and education in sub-Saharan Africa.

Valens Ntamushobora is a young Rwandan man who founded LUSA (Let Us Stay
Alive) to help young women who are mothers, not in school, or living on the
streets. Now with over 300 member cooperatives, LUSA provides access to land,
seeds and future for young women.

NETwork Against Malaria was founded by Madelyn McGlynn when still a
teenager, It’s purpose is to supply bed nets in Uganda to help stop the spread
of malaria. With over 35,000 volunteers, the organisation has provided around
12,000 nets, potentially saving the lives of 35,000 people.

When the Gulf oil sill occurred in 2010, 11 year old Olivia Bouler wept for
the plight of the birds of the gulf. By using her paintings, Olivia raised
$200,000 towards Gulf recovery within a year. Her book, Olivia’s Birds,
a collection of her paintings, helps to raise funds for ongoing
recovery.

Kyle Weiss is one of the founders of FUNDaFIELD, an organisation that builds
soccer fields in Africa in places where young people. In 2006, at the Soccer
World Cup, Kyle met soccer fans from Africa and discovered how the game helped
to break down barriers. The following year, he and his brother set up
FUNDaFIELD. He is fond of quoting Nelson Mandela, especially “sport has the
power to change the world.”Let’s Listen

Young people are inspiring, and they are challenging those of us in the older
generations to listen. Instead of thinking that young people have no respect
for their parents or old age, let us, their parents and those of older age, find
some respect for young people. They are worth listening to.

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About Me

I have almost 40 years experience working (paid and unpaid, government and non-government) in community development/education and social justice fields. I have continued to keep myself abreast of philosophies and theories in these and related fields. This blogsite will offer ideas, thoughts, reflections on these fields as well as giving some tools and techniques. I don't pretend that these will be original but I do hope that they will be able to translate some of these diverse ideas into coherent forms accessible to workers in the areas.